What do you think is the best option for modeling text based designs and simple extrusions, for example for doing cookie cutters where you can start with a 2d design and then extrude it in the z direction to form a cookie cutter. We also work on cake toppers based on letters and figures like hearts, etc.

I've been reading and i have seen he best or most popular tools for 3d modeling seem to be Fusion360, onshape, blender and thinkercad. Would love the hear any comments..

That example started with a scanned image but if you're already in Inkscape, you have all the drawing and text tools right there. Just convert your final drawing to paths and export it with the plugin.

Fusion and OnShape are both excellent, but licensing may be an issue. For Fusion, if you make more than $100,000 commercially with it, you need to subscribe. OnShape lets you use it for free as long as all your designs are public, which may or may not be an issue for you.

Blender is a bit of a beast to learn.

TinkerCAD is pretty easy to use for extrusions like you describe, if you can get your outlines in SVG format.

Hugs' workflow is probably the one I would go with if you're comfortable with OpenSCAD, or feel like you could become so. Otherwise, TinkerCAD is a decent starting point for easy extrusion-based designs. For more complex models, I would invest the time in learning a more powerful system.

Up until 3 weeks ago I had decided that Fusion 360 even with all its quirks and slowness with a medium speed DSL connection was it for me. I came from learning ACAD in 1992 and decided Autodesk is for me.

However on a whim I decided to try Punch ViaCAD 2D/3D Version 10 and wow, it is much more user friendly and faster than Fusion and I learned it very quickly. They have a Pro Version also for $100 more that is more inline with 3D modeling and rendering. But for 3D printing and work for my lasers its great. They have a download which is good for 14 days. Full price is $129 for the Pro $249 but you can get 20% coupons to bring the price down.

I do not know if I can post pictures or not, I have not been on here for a while. This is of a simple cone I printed for my rotary attachment that goes with my Galvo Fiber Laser. ViaCad also has programs for $1200 or more for the pro's who need advanced features.